Earlier this month, I ran what was arguably my best race to date. It was a familiar setting - under the lights at Stanford, on a track I've raced on for over a decade, with my family cheering from their favorite spot by the finish line, Coach Dena perched along the rail. Though the scene was one I know well, the race brought me into new territory.

On April 3, I ran almost a minute PR in the 10k, finishing 3rd to Gelete Burka and Shalane Flanagan in 32:09, currently #2 in the US this year and under the Olympic Games qualifying standard of 32:15. I knew that I was fit coming into this race and thought that 32:20 was possible. But 32:09? I was (and still am) ecstatic!

The race played out perfectly for me. Shalane and Gelete took off in a race of their own; I and the rest of the field let them go. I settled in behind teammate Kirsty Legg, who was a perfect pacer, bringing me through 2 miles comfortably in 78s. After Kirsty stepped off, I latched onto a group with Angela Bizzari, Katie Matthews, and some collegians and went for a ride. Relaxed and controlled, I felt great as we came through 5k in 16:17, right on pace.

But then our pack threw in some 79s and I started to feel antsy. It was still early, but my body said it was time to go. I've felt this way in a race a few times before: you feel amazing and you know it's your time. Your brain, ever the practical organ, is telling you to be patient, to wait - there's still a long way to go. But your heart is beating louder, drowning out the brain, pumping blood to your muscles that are screaming "let me fly!" In my experience, when you feel this way, it's going to be your day, and you better seize the fleeting opporunity and GO.

So although it was early, I went (causing some shock and anxiety to my poor mother watching in the stands). I took the lead of the chase pack and dropped the pace to 77, then 76, then 75, and soon the pack was reduced to just me and Dominique Scott. We switched off positions as the laps dwindled and together, we started to close the gap on 3rd place runner Lanni Marchant.

We started lapping runners, and as Dominique and I came up on a big group with 700 to go, I saw my opening. I swung wide into lane 2 to pass the group and moved ahead of Dominique into 4th. 600 to go, and Lanni seemed out of reach. But I still felt good -- the pain of 9,400 meters somehow hadn't manifested itself yet. I guess after the death march that was miles 21-23 at CIM, a 10k on the track felt very doable! I kept pressing.

As I approached the bell lap, I heard Gelete and Shalane fighting for the win. Determined not to get lapped by Shalane, I surged. Around the curve, I heard Dena yelling to look ahead - suddenly, Lanni was within reach! Here's how the last 200 meters played out:

In the final 50 meters, I was able to soak up what I had just done and truly enjoy the moment. Races like this one are few and far between, and thus should be treasured. Those final strides will forever be etched in my memory.

I keep getting the question, "What caused this breakthrough?" Honestly, I'm still answering that myself. When I look back at my log and scroll through months of data on Strava, I think it comes down to a few factors. First, time -- I've been working relentlessly at this dream for 5 years now, and this big improvement was a long time coming. There's no substitute for years of hard work and the cumulative effect of all those miles, and on April 3, it finally paid off!

Another factor is running a marathon - racing 26.2 this fall was truly one of the most difficult things I've ever done, requiring mental fortitude I've never had to tap into on the track. Certainly, a 10k on the track is never easy, but it's a different (and in my opinion, more manageable) type of pain and mental effort than a marathon. 26.2 made me stronger in so many ways, and thus made me better on the track.

Finally, I credit this breakthrough to stability. I'm settled in my new home in Providence, happily married, have great training partners, and have been working with Coach Dena for a few years now. Life has dealt me a pretty wonderful hand right now, and I approached the race with a feeling of deep gratitude and peace. The ups and downs of the past few years have leveled off, enabling me to better focus on and prioritize my running.

Truly, there are no magic beans, no secret workout, no special diet or huge weight loss that got me to 32:09 (trust me when I say this, young female runners - you can be fast in ANY body type! Restricting calories and making unhealthy choices is NOT the path to a breakthrough). I still work full time, take on too many side projects, fly too many red-eyes and enjoy my fair share of red wine. I'm living, fully, but there's balance and it's stable. I'm happy! Things are going great, and I'm excited to keep training hard and running fast.

Heartfelt love and appreciations go out to all who've been there for me on this journey -- my husband, my family, Dena, friends near and far. Teammates, supporters, sponsors, fans - you all are incredible and I thank you for the texts, tweets, and all-around joy you've sent my way. Thank you!!

I had a blast chatting with Kelsey & Meg on the @strongrunchicks podcast recently 🎙 We talked about my journey from high school multistory athlete ➡️ running D1 at @ucdavisxc ➡️ joining @stravatrackclub as a post-collegiate athlete chasing an Olympic Trials goal ➡️ running professionally for @teambaa and @adidasrunning 👟 .
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We also chatted about public health and getting people to move joyfully through physical activity promotion (👋 @brownpublichealth) and about coaching runners (👋 #TrainingJoyfully). We packed a lot into 1 hour! Lots of shoutouts to some special folks including some of the amazing coaches I’ve worked with and learned from (@ricsantosslb @dizneena @helenlehmanwinters) and inspiring teammates & friends (👋 @ktkellner @alliehackett95 @michaela_hackett).
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Hope you enjoy the podcast and thanks again SRC Radio for having me on the show! 💪🏃‍♀️😊 The link is in my bio ⬆️
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#strongrunnerchicks #srcradio #strongrunner #teamBAA #bostonathleticassociation #adidasrunning #adidaswomen #podcast #runningpodcast #inspiringwomenrunners #sistersinsport #teammates #runcoach #runcoaching #marathoncoach #runningjoyfully #trainingjoyfully

Throwback to the last time I ran 26.2... at the California International Marathon @runsra_cim last year .
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CIM is just 1️⃣ month away and I’ll be back - though not running, I’m super excited to be back home cheering on family, friends, and #TrainingJoyfully clients at my favorite marathon! 🎉 .
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I’m thinking about hosting a meet-up the day before the race - if you’ll be in Sac, are you interested? If so, let me know in the comments below ⬇️! .
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@michaela_hackett @starling_80 @katiecoats let’s get ready to cheer our butts off! 🎉🎉🎉 .
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#road2CIM #californiainternationalmarathon #runsacramento #runsactown #roadtocim #trainingjoyfully #runningjoyfully #cheersquad #runCIM #runaretesac

When I’m training, getting quality sleep is one of my top priorities - I aim to get 8-9 hours a night to help me recover from tough workouts. When I was younger, sleep was something I didn’t give the attention it deserved. But once I started prioritizing sleep, I saw a huge leap in performance (33:01 ➡️ 32:09 10k back in 2015!) .
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And now, while I’m rehabbing from my injury, getting good sleep remains important, as it plays a crucial role in injury recovery. Tissues repair themselves while we’re sleeping - so whether you’re recovering from mile repeats or a torn tendon, like me, sleep is a key part of the equation .
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#SleepFuels my runs and right now, my injury recovery - I’ve partnered with @bedgear to up my 😴😴 with some new pillows and sheets - thank you!
Wishing sweet dreams & swift feet to all those running #TCSNYCMarathon on Sunday -get out there and #TakeTheCity! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️💪 .
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#ad #sponsored #bedgear #restandrecovery #sleep

Everyone’s posting about NYC Marathon and I’m over here like 😫😫😫 .
This week is hard, not gonna lie. When I should be tapering, resting my legs, and gearing up for 26.2 miles through the 5 boroughs on Sunday, I’m instead living the PT/cross-training life, not even able to run a mile. While I’ve seen good progress in physical therapy, it’s a long road to full function again. I got another MRI this morning, hoping for news of healing 🙏 .
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My mantra is to run joyfully, and I try to bring joy to others around me by having a positive outlook and a “glass half full” attitude. But in the spirit of being honest, I’ll admit that the past 2 months have been far from joyful. I’ve felt so angry and frustrated - which has been challenging for me, because when I’m carrying around all this anger, I don’t feel like myself. .
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I’ve felt incredibly sad too - mourning the loss of this marathon. Injuries bring out all the emotions 😡😢😫 One of the athletes who I coach is currently coming back from injury too, and I shared with her that it’s ok to be angry, ok to feel sadness - because you’re grieving the loss of your season and all you’d hoped to accomplish. I told her that it’s important to let those feelings out, acknowledge them, and process them - so that can you move ahead and look beyond the injury to a fast, healthy, happy future ➡️ .
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So in the spirit of taking my own advice, I’m allowing myself to feel crappy today - sad mad pissed off 😫 I went and bought myself some expensive donuts 🍩, as one does when one is processing feelings 🤣 .
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I’ll be bummed today, so that I can get excited to cheer for all the amazing women toeing the line on Sunday. While I so wish I could be out there competing, I know that the 🇺🇸 women are going to bring the 🔥🔥 and I can’t wait to root for them! And to cheer on my athlete @keeks0921 in her first 26.2! For now, cheers to donuts and #keepingitreal .
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#tcsnycmarathon #notmarathontraining #injuredrunner #injuredlife #injuryrecovery #injuryrehab #comebackseason

Living that physical therapy life - putting this body back together one piece and one day at a time. Not glamorous, not super fun, but oh so necessary!
I got cleared for the elliptical this week, and I did it PAIN FREE yesterday! 💪🙌 Cheers to progress, small victories, and the weekend! 🎉 .
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#injuredrunner #downbutnotout #rehab #physicaltherapy #roadtorecovery #adidaswomen #adidasrunning #teamBAA

Logging laps - not nearly as fun as logging miles, but I’ll take what I can get right now 🏊‍♀️🧜‍♀️ .
Doing some no-breath 25s here - hypoxic work gets my heart rate up ❤️⬆️ - trying to maintain aerobic fitness when I’m not running. (Had to sneak a breath on the 2nd lap 🙊) .
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📹: my mom @clbgregg, the head age group swim coach with the DART swim team 🏊‍♀️ giving me tips on stroke technique as it’s been years since my competitive swimming days! .
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#injuredrunner #injuredlife #runnerturnedswimmer #runnerturnedmermaid #crosstraining #swimming #lapswim #lapswimming #lapsonlapsonlaps #swimmingjoyfully

I’m not running right now, and it’s been weeks since I laced up my shoes for some miles. I’m so far from the fitness that I had in this photo at the beginning of August. I feel like a completely different person than I was 2 months ago, before the run-in with a dumb distracted driver and the injury that stole my season. •
But here’s the thing - I AM different. And that’s ok. Injuries happen, tendons tear, tears are shed. Instead of going to practice, I go to the pool. I go to the gym, and PT, and focus on celebrating the little gains there, like getting my glute to fire or doing an exercise pain-free. And I read, and listen to podcasts, and work on developing mental strength, to help me get through this injury and so that I’m ready for the day when I’m back competing again. •
I miss running: the meditative miles, the crunch of leaves beneath my feet, sweaty sports bras and post-run lattes and lounging on the couch watching Netflix while I recover. But that’s been replaced (temporarily) with the smell of chlorine in my hair, long hot showers after a swim, exploration walks with Moose Man, and lots of puppy snuggles. And these are all good things. So while they’re different, this is new territory, and I’m outside my comfort zone - I know that in this unfamiliar space, I can find home. I’m not the first person to go through something like this, and surely not the last. I’ve conquered unknowns before, I can do it again. And challenging as it is, I’ll be better for it.